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DriiversitY and %z\\m\ Eixterisian. 



ENGLISH LITERATURE (Course B). 



APPROVED BY 



1889. 



F. J. CHILD, 

Harvard University. 



Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York. 



.Aire 5 



Copyright, 

1889, 

By GEORGE LYMAN -KITTREDGE. 



Master-Pieces of the Seventeenth and 
Eighteenth Centuries. 

The object of this course is to give the student a familiar knowl- 
edge of certain representative works of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries in different departments of literature. The authors chosen 
are Spenser, Bacon, Milton, Dryden, Defoe, Swift, Pope, Addison, 
Steele, Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith, Cowper, and Burns.* Spenser 
falls entirely, and Bacon partly, in the sixteenth century, but there 
seemed to be enough good reasons for including them in a course of 
this kind to overbalance any formal reasons for keeping them out. 

The student is expected to read carefully the works prescribed, 
fixing an outline of the subject matter in his mind. Criticism he 
should not commit to memory. Such critical matter as is included in 
the course is valuable in so far as it gives the student fruitful sugges- 
tions. If he follows it blindly, it can do him no good. 

The student is advised to make brief abstracts of the works read, 
and to preserve these until the end of the year. If he does this 
faithfully, he will construct his own manual as he goes along. 

All matter in brackets refers to optional work. Books mentioned 
in brackets are not indispensable, but will be found valuable for ref- 
erence if the student has access to them and finds time to use them. 
If no special edition is announced as necessary, any edition will serve. 
In a wordy nothiiig is required of the studefit that is not expressly pre- 
scribed. 

* Shakspere is studied in a separate course in the University Extension. 



UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL EXTENSION. 



GENERAL WORKS. 

Prescribed. Minto's Manual of English Prose Litera- 
ture, Biographical and Critical, designed mainly to show Char- 
acteristics of Style, Boston : Ginn & Company. 

(This book is meant whenever " Minto " is cited. Only such portions 
are required as are expressly referred to. ) 
[No other manual is required, but Meiklejohn's Outline * will be found useful 
as a skeleton of names and dates. If the student happens to be familiar with any 
one of the common hand-books (as Craik's, Morley's, or Arnold's), he may use it 
instead of Meiklejohn's sketch. Brooke's English Literature (in Literature 
Primers, edited by J. R. Green), is an excellent little manual. The following books 
may be used for reference or for collateral reading : Allibone's Dictionary of 
Authors. T. S. Perry, English Literature in the Eighteenth Century. Sidney 
Lanier, The English Novel and the Principle of its Development. Masson, 
British Novelists and their Styles. Bayard Tuckerman, A History of English 
Prose Fiction.] 

SELECTIONS FROM AUTHORS. 

Spenser (15 5 2-1 5 99). — Faery Queen, Book L, edited by 
Kitchin (Clarendon Press Series). — Church's Spenser (in Eng- 
lish Men of Letters). 

[A cheap and convenient edition of Spenser's Complete Works is that of Morris 
and Hales (Globe Edition, Macmillan). Fleay's Guide to Spenser and Chaucer (in 
College Classics) is a useful hand-book.] 

\Optional reading. — Lowell's Essay on Spenser (in Among my Books, Vol. II., 
pp. 125-200).— Whipple's Literature of the Age of Elizabeth (Boston, Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co.), pp. 189-220.] 

* J. M. D. Meiklejohn, An Outline of the History of English Literature (being 
part IV. of the same author's *' English Language "). London : Wm. Blackwood 
& Sons, no pp. 



MASTER-PIECES OF THE XVIITH AND XVIIITH CENTURIES. 5 

Bacon (1561-1626). — Essays. — Advancement of Learning, 
Book I. (edited by W. A. Wright, Clarendon Press Series). — 
Church's Bacon (English Men of Letters). — Minto, pp. 239-255. 

The essays are to be studied either in Lewis's edition (N. Y., G. P. 
Putnam's Son), or in Abbott's (2 vols., London, Longmans). Vol. I. of 
Abbott's edition contains a Life which may be optionally substituted for 
Church's book. 

Students are to read all the essays carefully, but should give special 
attention to the following, — Of Truth, Of Death, Of Revenge, Of Great 
Place, Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature, Of Empire, Of Counsel, Of 
Friendship, Of Expense, Of Innovations, Of Despatch, Of Greatness of 
Kingdoms and Estates, Of Discourse, Of Plantations, Of Riches, Of Ambi- 
tion, Of Custom and Education, Of Youth and Age, Of Studies, Of Judi- 
cature, Of Ceremonies and Respects. 
[Optional reading. — Macaulay's Essay on Bacon. — Whipple's Literature of the 
Age of Elizabeth, pp. 189-220.] 

[Worlks of reference. — Works of Bacon, edited by Ellis, Spedding, and Heath. 
— Spedding's Francis Bacon and his Times, 2 vols. (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & 
Co.)— Abbott's Francis Bacon, N. Y., Macmillan, 1885.] 

Milton (1608-1674). Paradise Lost, Books I.-III. 
Comus, Lycidas, L'Allegro, II Penseroso, Hymn on the Morn- 
ing of Christ's Nativity, Sonnets. — Areopagitica. — Pattison's 
Milton (English Men of Letters). 

All the poems required are contained in the first volume of Browne's edi- 
tion (Clarendon Press Series). Handy one-volume editions of Milton's 
Poems are Cleveland's (N. Y., A. S. Barnes & Co.), which contains a very 
useful Verbal Index, and Masson's Globe Edition (N. Y., Macmillan). For 
Comus, etc., Rolfe's edition of Milton's Minor Poems (N. Y., Harpers) is 
recommended. The handiest edition of the Areopagitica is that of J. W. 
Hales (Clarendon Press Series). 

[Optional reading. — Matthew Arnold's Essay on Milton (in his Essays in Crit- 
icism, Second Series). — A French Critic on Milton (in Matthew Arnold's Mixed 
Essays.)— Lowell's Essay on Milton (in Among my Books, Vol. II., pp. 252-302). 



UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL EXTENSION. 



Students who wish to read more of Milton's prose will find a selection by Ernest 
Myers (Parchment Library) a convenient book. 

Works of reference. — Masson's three-volume edition of Milton (N. Y. Macmil- 
lan). — Masson's Life of Milton (the same).] 

Dryden (1631-1700). — Annus Mirabilis, Absalom and 
Achitophel (Part I.), Hind and Panther (Book I.), Religio 
Laid. — Saintsbury's Dryden (English Men of Letters). — 
Minto, pp. 332-336- 

The poems prescribed are all contained in the Clarendon Press Selections 
from Dryden, edited by Christie. 

{Optional reading. — Essay on Satire, Essay on Translation, The Medal, Mac- 
flecknoe. All for Love. The two essays may be found in Dryden's Essays edited by 
C. D. Yonge (N. Y., Macmillan). The Medal and Macflecknoe are in Christie's 
Globe Edition of Dryden's Poems (Macmillan). This edition is strongly recom- 
mended to the student. It contains a good Life, which may be optionally substituted 
for Saintsbury's. Ail for Love is contained in Vol. V. of Dryden's Complete Works 
(ed. by Scott, revised by Saintsbury), and also in a cheap volume called The Select 
Dramatic Works of Dryden (London, Hamilton, Adams &Co., 1877). If accessible 
to the student, All for Love should be read as a specimen of Dryden's dramatic 
powers, and should be compared with Shakspere's Antony and Cleopatra. — Lowell's 
essay on Dryden (in Among my Books, Vol. I., pp. i-8o).J 

Defoe (1661-1731). — Journal of the Plague Year. — Minto's 

Defoe (in English Men of Letters). — Minto, pp. 347-361. 

The Journal may be obtained in cheap form as No. 8 of Morley's Uni- 
versal Library (N, Y., Routledge). 

Swift (1667-1745). Gulliver's Travels, Battle of the 
Books. — Leslie Stephen's Swift (English Men of Letters). — 
Minto, pp. 361-377- 

A cheap edition of Gulliver's Travels is published by Porter & Coates, 
Philadelphia. The Battle of the Books is accessible in Lewin's Prose 
Writings of Swift (Camelot Classics). 



MASTER-PIECES OF THE XVIITH AND XVIIITH CENTURIES. J 

[The standard edition of Swift is Scott's, in 19 volumes. The student may also 
consult Craik's Life of Swift (London, Murray, 1882). In connection with Stephen's 
book may be read Swift's Letters, edited by Stanley Lane-Poole (Parchment Library). 
Lane-Poole has also edited a volume of Selections from Swift (Parchment Library), 
which may be consulted by those who wish to read more than Lewin's book con- 
tams.— Thackeray's English Humorists may also be read.] 

Addison (1672-1719) and Steele (1672-1729).— The 
Spectator, Selections : 

I. Papers by Addison : Nos. i, 23, 26, 34, 46, 47, 58, 59, 
60,61,62,63, 72,81,86,93, 102, 106, 108, no, 112,115, 
119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 130, 131, 173, 177 (cf. 
169), 179, 185, 225, 233, 251, 261, 269, 275, 281, 295, 317, 
323,329, 335,381, 383,387,517. 

II. Papers by Steele: Nos. 2(34), 4(35), 6(15), n 
(104), 14(107), 17(52), 49(54), 75(62), 80(105), 82(17), '^Z 
(56), 100(12), 107(36), 109(37), 113(38), 114(95), 118(39), 
132(84), 136(96), 137(57), 157(122), 174(129), 226(115), 
228(71), 254(64), 259(60), 260(63), 264(14), 270(108), 306 
(80), 324(53), 348(65), 354(97), 358(74), 422(21), 427(66), 
436(120), 438(9), 448(98), 449(99), 454(116), 494(58), 503 
{^6), 514(127), 544(40). 

— Macaulay's Essay on Addison. — Minto, pp. 377-392, 392-400. 

A good cheap edition of The Spectator in one volume is Morley's 
(N. Y., Routledge). In the list of papers by Steele, the figures in paren- 
theses refer to the essays as numbered in Austin Dobson's excellent Selec- 
tions from Steele (Clarendon Press Series). Macaulay's essay may be had 
in cheap form in Harper's Half-hour Series (N. Y., Harpers, 25 cents). 
\Pptional reading.— Qo\x.x\}[io'^e% Addison (in English Men of Letters).— Aus- 
tin Dobson's Steele (in English Worthies, London, Longmans).— Addison and 
Steele (in Thackeray's English Humorists).] 



UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL EXTENSION. 



Pope (1688-1744). — Rape of the Lock ; Essay on Man ; 
Moral Essays, Epistles I., III., IV. ; Prologue and Epilogue 
to the Satires ; Imitations of Horace. — Leslie Stephen's Pope 
(English Men of Letters). 

Any annotated edition of Pope will serve. Ward's Globe Edition 
(N. Y., Macraillan) is convenient, well edited, and cheap. The Essays on 
Man and the Satires and Epistles have been edited by Mark Pattison for the 
Clarendon Press Series. The Rape of the Lock is included in Hale's Longer 
English Poems. 
{Optional reading. — Lowell's essay on Pope (in My Study Windows). — Pope 
(in Thackeray's English Humorists).] 

Johnson (i 709-1 784). Vanity of Human Wishes. — Lives 
of Dryden and Pope (from Lives of the Poets),— Minto, pp. 
413-428. 

Convenient editions are published in the Clarendon Press Series, 
[The student is advised to read as much of Boswell's Life of Johnson as his 
time allows. The standard edition is G. B. Hill's (6 vols., Oxford, 1887) ; a cheap 
one-volume edition is published by Wm. P. Nimmo (Edinburgh). Hill's Dr. 
Johnson, his Friends and Critics (London, 1878) is a useful book. Mrs. Piozzi's 
entertaining but not altogether trustworthy Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, and John- 
son's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland may be had in Cassell's National 
Library at ten cents. An essay on Dr. Johnson and his Contemporaries in H. J. 
Nicoll's Landmarks of English Literature (N. Y., Appleton), pp. 237-275, may also 
be consulted.] 

Goldsmith (1728-1774). Vicar of Wakefield, Traveller, 

Deserted Village, Retaliation. — Good-natured Man, She Stoops 

to Conquer. — Washington Irving's Biography of Goldsmith. — 

Minto, pp. 461-473. 

All the works of Goldsmith required are included in one of the volumes 
of Morley's Universal Library (N. Y., Routledge). A convenient edition 



MASTER-PIECES OF THE XVIITH AND XVIIITH CENTURIES. Q 

is Masson's Globe Edition (N. Y., Macmillan). Good annotated editions 

of the Poems are Rolfe's (N. Y., Harpers), and Dobson's (Clarendon 

Press). 

\Optional reading. — The Bee, The Citizen of the World. — William Black's 

Goldsmith (in English Men of Letters.) — Thackeray's English Humorists. — Forster's 

Life and Times of Goldsmith (a vols.) will be found useful for reference.] 

Burke (i 729-1 797). Selections from his Speeches, etc., — 
as much as is contained in Hudson's Text-Book of Prose 
(Boston, Ginn & Co.), pp. 113-325. — Morley's Burke (English 
Men of Letters). — Minto, pp. 440-461. 

The selections indicated may be obtained in pamphlet form in Ginn & 
Co.'s Pamphlet Selections of Prose and Poetry, Nos. 1. and II. (15 cents 
each). 
[ Works for reference and optional reading. — Payne's Selections from Burke, 
3 vols., Clarendon Press Series (I. Thoughts on the Present Discontents and Two 
Speeches on America. — II. French Revolution. — III. Regicide Peace), — excel- 
lently edited. — Trevelyan's Early History of Charles James Fox. — Macknight's 
Life and Times of Burke. — Lord Brougham's Historical Sketches of Statesmen, 
Vol. I,, pp. 231-261.] 

Cowper (1731-1800). Ninth Satire of the First Book of 
Horace, Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, 
The Task (Books I., II., IV., lines 1-193, VI., lines 905-1024), 
Epistle to Joseph Hill, John Gilpin, On the Receipt of my 
Mother's Picture. — Goldwin Smith's Cowper (English Men of 
Letters). 

A convenient edition of Cowper's poems is Benham's Globe Edition 

N. Y., Macmillan). This contains a Life which the student may, if he 

chooses, substitute for Goldwin Smith's book. 

{Optional reading. — Cowper's Letters, edited by Benham (N. Y., Macmillan) ; 

the remainder of The Task ; Southey's Life of Cowper (which contains a great 

many of the letters).] 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



10 



UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL EXTENSI 



010 118 693 
Burns (1759-1796). Twa Dogs, Tarn o' baanrer, Auaress 

to the Deil, On Pastoral Poetry, To a Mouse, Poor Mailie's 

Elegy, The Auld Farmer's New- Year Morning Salutation, To 

a Louse, To a Mountain Daisy, Elegy on Captain Henderson, 

Epistle to Davie, Epistle to James Smith, Epistle to Dr. 

Blacklock. — Songs : Afton Water, Bruce's Address to his 

Troops, The Poor and Honest Sodger, Highland Mary, To 

Mary in Heaven, The Banks of Doon, John Anderson My Jo, 

Braes o' Ballochmyle, Honest Poverty, Logan Braes, I do 

Confess thou art sae Fair, Bess and her Spinning Wheel, 

Country Lassie, The Lass of Ballochmyle, A Rosebud by my 

Early Walk, Of a' the Airts the Wind can Blaw, Ae Fond 

Kiss, Fairest of the Fair. — Blackie's Burns (in the series of 

Great Writers, Lond., W. Scott). 

All the prescribed selections from Burns may be found in No, VIII. 

of Hudson's Pamphlet Selections of Prose and Poetry (15 cents : Boston, 

Ginn & Co.). 
[A good complete edition of Burns in one volume is Alexander Smith's (N. Y., 
Macmillan, Globe Edition). This contains a Life which the student may, at his 
option, substitute for Blackie's book. Those who possess Smith's or any other 
complete edition are advised to read, in addition to the selections indicated, the fol- 
lowing : — Death and Doctor Hornbrook, The Kirk's Alarm, on Captain Grose's 
Peregrinations, Auld Rob Morris, The Posie, A Red Red Rose, John Barleycorn, 
Captain Grose.] 



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